Closer LOOK: ULURP Under Review

Speakers

Angel Mescain (District Manager, Manhattan Community Board 11)
Angel Mescain is the District Manager of Manhattan Community Board 11 where he has proudly served the neighborhood of East Harlem for the last fifteen years. A dedicated public servant with a commitment to people, process, and outcomes, Angel helped to kick-start Participatory Budgeting NYC in East Harlem and the South Bronx in 2012 and initiated the participatory community planning process that produced the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan in 2016. An active member of the Future of Community Boards Working Group, Angel is always looking at ways to improve both the operations of CB11 and the impact that the Board and its committees are having on their community. Angel holds a degree in Public Administration from Empire State College and a graduate degree in hard knocks constituent work from the Office of Councilmember Gale A. Brewer. In his downtime, Angel can often be found on his deck listening to the Black Crowes and playing fetch with his three dogs, Bowie, Stella, and Lola, the most beautiful girl in the world.”

Vivien Krieger (Co-Chair Zoning, Land Use & Development, Cozen O’Connor)
Vivien concentrates her practice on real estate law, representing developers, lenders, owners, purchasers, and nonprofits in New York City land use and zoning matters.

Vivien regularly prepares applications and appears before various city and state entities, as well as public benefit corporations including, NYC City Planning Commission, NYC Board of Standards and Appeals, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYS Department of Transportation, NYS Office of General Services, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of NY and NJ, and Empire State Development Corporation. She also presents projects to community boards and elected officials, and works closely with architects, engineers, financial experts, and environmental experts.

Vivien has drafted and negotiated various zoning lot development agreements, easement agreements, restrictive declarations, zoning opinions and letters, analyses of site development potential, zoning resolution determination requests, and zoning challenges. She has also litigated complex real estate matters involving land use.

Vivien is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where she serves as a member of the Awards for Excellence in Development Committee and as a member of the Technical Assistance Panels Steering Committee. She also serves on the Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee of the New York City Bar Association and she is a fellow of the Urban Design Forum.

Tom Angotti (Professor Emeritus of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College)
Tom Angotti is Professor Emeritus of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He was the founder and director of the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development. His recent books include Transformative Planning: Radical Alternatives to Neoliberal Urbanism, Zoned Out! Race, Displacement and City Planning in New York City, Urban Latin America: Inequalities and Neoliberal Reforms, The New Century of the Metropolis, New York For Sale: Community Planning Confronts Global Real Estate, which won the Davidoff Book Award, and Accidental Warriors and Battlefield Myths.He is an editor of progressivecity.net and Participating Editor for Latin American Perspectives and Local Environment. He is active in community and environmental issues in New York City.

Moderator

Tom Devaney, AICP (Senior Director of Land Use and Planning, MAS)
Tom has served as Senior Director of Land Use and Planning at MAS since 2016. He is a certified planner and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional with 22 years of public and private sector city planning experience in New York. Tom heads MAS’ planning operations, initiatives, and research projects, and led two major groundbreaking studies on New York City’s Environmental Quality Review (CEQR). 2018’s Tale of Two Rezonings: Taking a Harder Look at CEQR examined development under the rezonings of Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn. 2023’s Site x Site: A Look Back at Soft Site Development in New York City is an unprecedented analysis of citywide development that demonstrates the limitations of CEQR criteria in reliably estimating future development. Prior to his tenure at MAS, Tom led Langan Engineering’s environmental planning and wetland permitting practices, managing a wide range of projects including Franklin, D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island and the NYPD Training Academy in Queens.

Opening Remarks

Shachi Pandey, AICP (Principal, MUD Workshop, Co-Chair AIA PUD and VP Intergov. Affairs, APA NYM)
Shachi is a community-centric urban designer who has engaged in numerous projects with a commitment to revitalize neighborhoods and public places. Her work has leveraged and advanced green design, climate responsive planning, and place-making in commercial, residential and mixed-use contexts. She is the Founding Principal of MUD Workshop, an urban design practice that is driving revitalization through innovative participatory planning in the New York tristate area. Her recent and ongoing work in New York include the State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative for the NYC region and the Creedmoor Community Master Plan in Eastern Queens, NY, both of which are being led by her firm.

Shachi has a keen interest in influencing policy through physical planning, and her approach is rooted in fostering meaningful engagement between communities, policymakers, and implementation partners. She co-chairs AIA’s NY PUD committee and serves as VP of Intergov Affairs at APA’s NY Metro Chapter. She is also Visiting Faculty at the M.S. AUD program at Cornell University, where she directs their final studio.